


My Big Purple Alien Family

by nihonlove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Acxa & Keith (Voltron) are Siblings, Acxa & Keith (Voltron) are Twins, Alien Culture, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Aliens Are Common, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Coming Out, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Developing Relationship, Falling In Love, Family, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Insecure Keith (Voltron), M/M, Meet the Family, Minor Kolivan/Antok, Minor Thace/Ulaz (Voltron), Soulmates, Trans Keith (Voltron), Trans Male Character, minor krolia/keith's father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 15:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16452794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihonlove/pseuds/nihonlove
Summary: Keith Kogane grew up knowing his family was a little bit different than other kids', not least because it was possible for him to actually meet his honest to god soulmate one day. When he finds his in Takashi Shirogane in college, Keith needs to figure out how to introduce him to and fit him into his life and his very large, very purple alien family.Or: The college AU where aliens and space travel are commonplace, Galra soulmates are a thing, and Keith loves his family a lot while also being somewhat embarrassed by how overbearing they can be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the Keith Birthday Baby Bang. After s6, I really wanted to write something relating to Keith's family, and I'd also been wanting to write something about a verse where aliens are pretty commonplace and known on Earth. This fic was the end result of that particular thought process :3. I kinda think it takes place in the ultimate good timeline where Zarkon and Honerva never went mad with quintessence and therefore Daibazaal was never destroyed and things remained harmonious. This in turn led to extended space travel which led to Earth being discovered by other planets much earlier, which ended up making space travel and aliens being pretty commonplace, kind of like in the show Futurama.
> 
> A huge thanks to all of my sensitivity readers for this fic: indecisivegaymer, mv_lit and cuddlemeaaronoppa here on AO3 as well as nikkutek on Tumblr on writing Keith as a trans man, and xerampelinae here on AO3 and Rouren on Tumblr, as well as Anonymous on race and immigration :). A special thanks to my beta reader veelightwood as well on Tumblr. You guys all rock! <3.
> 
> I'll post a link to my artist's work here as soon as it's uploaded, but we're in pretty different timezones so :).

_ …I must say, though, that there is one way that all children, not just half-alien children, are all the same. And that is in the way they are all so different and unique in themselves. My daughter and my son, despite being twins, are just as different as they are alike. And I think no matter who your children are, the most important thing to do for them is to cherish them for those differences that make them themselves. That’s the most concrete advice I can give for any parent. _

_ \--“Of Kits, Kites, and Kool-Aid: The Manual and Memoir on Raising Half-Alien Children,” Krolia Kogane’s best-selling book. _

…

Keith first meets Shiro on a Friday.

It happens at the first game night of the new semester at his and Pidge’s new place. Keith and the Holt siblings have been having these game nights since they were little, and even now that Keith and Pidge are in their first year in college, they’ve wanted to continue the tradition.

To Keith, it actually feels all the more important to continue it now, when he, Pidge and Matt are all so far away from everything and everyone they’ve known in their lives before this. Not to mention that he and Pidge have had to play on their own just the two of them for most of the past few years, Matt having gone off to college before them and only being able to join them to play during his visits home. It feels good to have this one thing of the past to hold onto now, to remind Keith of these pieces of family he still gets to have close to him, even if the Holts aren’t related to him by blood.

( _ Blood does not make a family _ , as his Mom would say.  _ Only love can make a family. It’s the Galra way. _ )

Pidge has mentioned a few times that Matt is bringing someone along, almost off-handedly. It’s apparently the roommate he’s had since he first started college. Keith’s not sure how he feels about this new addition. Secretly he’d kind of wished it would just be the three of them alone after such a long time. They have rarely included anyone outside of their little threesome to play, not even Acxa. She probably would not have joined even if they  _ had  _ asked her. She may be Keith’s twin, but they’ve always had their own things, interests, and friends; Keith with his art and Acxa with her overachieving.

Still. Keith hasn’t really felt like arguing about the matter. He supposes it’s about time he meets this Shiro dude he’s heard so much about anyway. He and Matt have lived together for over three years now, after all, and he’s apparently even visited the Holts in their home several times, but Keith has yet to actually meet the man.

He just kind of wishes Matt would’ve asked if it was okay with both Keith and his sister to bring a guest before just letting Pidge play the messenger.

All of this Keith muses as he puts together their snacks for the night in his and Pidge’s tiny kitchen. Unfortunately, the bowl of chips doesn’t offer him any new insight or answers, even when he adds the extra cheese powder on top. The bright orange of it seems almost like it’s mocking him. And his mood is not made at all better as the shrill, irritatingly loud ringing of the doorbell sounds through the apartment.  

“I’ll get it!” Pidge’s voice sounds from the living room where she’s been waiting for the night to start, followed by the patter of her quick and light steps against their floor. It’s another one of their traditions. Matt and Pidge bring the games, Keith brings and prepares the snacks. Though Keith has to admit it feels a bit different now that he and Pidge are roommates and he’s made to do all the work. He’ll have to bring that up at a suitable occasion.

He hears the tell-tale shriek from his best friend’s mouth that can only mean her brother and his roommate are here. It’s quickly followed by Matt’s resounding ‘oof!’ that probably means Pidge threw herself at him for a hug. Keith tunes the rest of what happens out, starting instead to make his way to the living room with the bowl of chips he’s now deemed sufficiently cheesy. He should let Matt and Pidge have a bit of a moment before greeting Matt for himself. He knows how much Pidge has been looking forward to this, to all of this; to getting to come to a new city where she can be surrounded by people who are just as smart as she is, and getting to share it with whom she at one secret night referred as “her two most favorite boys.”

Despite what Keith’s Mom might say, some things are best left to blood family. And that includes first dibs on older sibling hugs.

Still, as he’s passing by the small space they have between their kitchen and living room in their tiny apartment, Keith can’t help but sneak a little peek at the doorway where the space leads. What he’s not prepared for is that rather than eyeing whatever Pidge and Matt are up to, his gaze is quickly drawn to the hulking shape of a new man standing a little ways off from the pair of siblings now playfully exchanging noogies. Or the way the sight of him steals Keith’s breath completely away.

The moment Keith’s eyes land on him, it’s almost as if he’s unable to tear his gaze away. Seeing the stranger for the first time feels almost like a blow to the head. Everything else around Keith suddenly seems to blur away, insignificant and unimportant in the face of the beautiful man standing at his entryway. Every thought Keith’s ever had slips out of his mind and all he suddenly cares about is drinking in the sight of the man with his eyes. It’s only barely that Keith retains enough brainpower to keep holding onto the bowl of chips rather than letting it fall off his hands and mess up the floor he just vacuumed earlier today.

It takes Keith a few seconds and a few head-clearing blinks to really begin to comprehend the situation at hand. There is a man so beautiful that the mere sight of him is enough to make Keith’s head spin and his knees feel unsteady in his apartment right now. And on a second, more clarified view, Keith realizes that although he’s never met him in person, he knows who the man is. He’s seen him in the photos on Matt’s phone a few times. What throws him now though is the realization that the pictures don’t do him justice. At all.

Shiro – because it is indeed Matt’s roommate, unless he has a clone or an identical twin that Matt chose to bring for game night instead – must feel the way Keith’s eyes are now pouring over him because he turns to look over at him from where he’s been observing the Holts. Keith can feel his cheeks burning and his ears tingling at being spotted staring, but he still can’t quite make himself turn away. Not when Shiro’s meeting his eyes from across the room, dark in color but burning bright as they look at Keith. Time moves on from slowing down to standing still entirely as the two of them keep basically staring at one another, both of them now unable to look away.

Keith’s mouth feels dry as he observes the heated way Shiro’s eyes blaze in his direction; how Shiro not-so-subtly glances him up and down, even as Shiro’s cheeks turn a sweet pink shade at what he sees. Keith attempts a smile in his direction from the corner of his mouth, but he’s sure it comes out a little strained due to the sudden butterflies in his stomach and the way his hands are sweating. His whole being is screaming at him to get a move on and actually introduce himself to this incredibly attractive, well-built man, but Keith can’t seem to be able to make his legs move. They feel frozen in place, his whole body stiff and trembling with nerves, his heart hammering where it seems stuck in his throat.

In the end, it’s neither Keith nor Shiro who breaks the strange staring contest they have started. Rather, Matt finishes exchanging hugs and noogies with his sister and makes his way over to Keith to hug him instead. Keith barely notices until Matt’s plugged the bowl of chips from him and handed it off to the side and is squeezing him tight enough to make him squeak.

“Hey-hey, Keithy-kitty!” he playfully coos into Keith’s ear. “I’ve missed you, kiddo.”

“H-hey, Matt,” Keith manages, wrapping his own arms around Matt almost entirely through mere instinct. Equally by instinct, because Matt’s warmth is so familiar against him, Keith presses his face in his shoulder and scents him affectionately, the way he would anyone in his family. Matt’s hair tickles the tip of his nose a little as he does. It’s grown again since Keith last saw him.

Keith sighs a little, a bit of tension bleeding out his shoulders as he relaxes against Matt. Keith’s heart has always been more or less not entirely whole, the pieces of it scattered across the universe with his various loved ones. When Matt left for college, it was one more piece torn far away from him. Now Keith has even more pieces in the forms of his parents and his sister, but it’s still a relief to have this one piece more or less returned to him.

Matt lets him go with a pat on the back before turning to look at Shiro over his shoulder. It all happens so fast that it makes Keith’s head swim a little. But then, that’s Matt.

“Hey, Shiro, what are you still doing just standing over there? Come and meet Keith already!”

Keith refocuses his eyes on Shiro over Matt’s shoulder just in time to see him blink, as if he’s snapping out of a trance of some sort. Shiro straightens his back and some clarity returns into his eyes, his open mouth snapping shut. He doesn’t say anything though, just wordlessly steps closer, his cheeks a bit reddish again. It’s pretty adorable on him, the way his cheeks turn just about the same color as the rugged scar that runs from cheek to cheek across his nose on his sculpted face.

What is not so adorable is the fact that now that they’re standing next to each other, Keith can see just how much taller and broader Shiro is in comparison to him. He can’t hold back the heavy swallow or how his breaths begin to grow a little quicker at the sight of him up-close.

Matt wraps a playful arm around Shiro’s shoulders, which is a bit of a reach due to their differences in height, accompanied by an equally playful grin. “Keith, this is Shiro, my roommate. Shiro, this is Keith, my pseudo-little brother.”

“H-hey,” Shiro stammers out, his cheeks flushing further as he offers Keith his right hand to shake – which Keith can now see is a metal prosthetic. “I-it’s so good to finally meet you. Matt’s…Matt’s told me so much about you, but I still didn’t…” he coughs, averting his eyes, the red of his cheeks turning an even darker shade. “I mean, I never expected you to be so…”

Keith manages a proper, genuine smile at that, even if his own cheeks are also burning. “Y-yeah. Hi,” he says, a little embarrassed by the way his voice cracks, but moves to take and shake Shiro’s hand. The metal of it feels cool beneath his touch, the hand so large in comparison to his own that it makes shivers run down his spine. He’s not sure how much Shiro can feel with it, but he still makes sure to give him proper grip strength as he holds Shiro’s hand, just the way his Dad taught him.  _ Human handshakes are your first chance at making a good impression, son _ , he would say.

“G-good to finally meet you too.”

Keith looks up into Shiro’s eyes as they shake for good measure, and he’s suddenly a little grateful that the hand he shakes isn’t flesh because his own hand is still sweating so much that it would just be embarrassing and disgusting to touch in any manner. At least this way there is a small chance he’ll be spared that humiliation. Shiro’s dark eyes are warm and beautiful, and they seem to sparkle as they meet Keith’s. Shiro looks at him almost like he’s a marvel, like something Shiro didn’t think could exist. Like Keith is the most amazing thing he’s ever borne witness to, and like nothing can ever compare to him now.

There’s also still remains of that fire Keith is sure he saw earlier beneath it all. It’s all both flattering and strange to see. Keith doesn’t think anyone’s been quite this taken with him, especially this fast.

This close to him, Keith can get a proper whiff of Shiro’s scent too. It’s just as enticing as the rest of him, all earthy and airy, a little bit like the desert at the earliest light. It reminds Keith so vividly of home that it makes him feel woozy and more than a little unsteady on his feet.

“O-kay then,” Matt says, once again breaking the moment, clapping his hands together. “Should we get started with the game night then?”

“Y-yeah,” Keith says, quickly drawing his eyes off of Shiro’s to get some clarity back into his mind.

Unfortunately, his eyes instead find Pidge, who is already reseated herself on their couch, swinging her legs back and forth. Apparently it was to her that Matt gave the bowl of chips because she has already shoved a bunch of them into her mouth to the point they’re making her cheeks bulge like a chipmunk’s. She meets his gaze from over the back of the couch and narrows her eyes in a way that says to Keith that she definitely  _ knows _ , all the while shoving more chips into her already full mouth like she’s trying to prove a point. Or possibly to look a bit more like a Disney villain. Keith’s not sure.

Either way, he huffs a little and turns his eyes away from her as well, closing them for good measure and crossing his arms, as he feels his cheeks burning again. It may not be the most adult response or the best one for convincing Pidge she’s wrong, but at least it’s sufficient to show that he’s definitely  _ not  _ happy about this.

And then Shiro walks past him, catching his attention again, and Keith gets a full view of his strong back and muscular legs and everything else, and…

And he knows he’s completely and utterly screwed.

…

Keith realizes that this is normal. This is just something that happens. People meet other people they find attractive all the time, get crushes all the time. He’s even had a few of his own over the years, even though none of them actually grew into anything more impressive than a kiss at his high school prom.

He just never expected  _ this  _ to happen. Not really.

He’s always deep down known it was a possibility. It’s just a part of who he is, and a part of the blood he carries in his veins. But he’s never put much thought into it until now. Every story he’s heard about all of this, every experience he’s had spelled out for him down to the smallest detail over the years, and he’s still completely unprepared in the face of meeting who Keith is pretty sure is his kindred soul.

Keith’s never felt attraction like this towards anyone the way he’s feeling for Shiro right now. He still can’t take his eyes off him, and more often than not, he finds Shiro looking right back at him, so the feeling seems to be mutual. They’re both nervous, he can tell by both Shiro’s smell and the way he keeps fidgeting and blushing, but they do actually manage to start a conversation as they begin the game night. They go over the basics like college majors (art for Keith, astrophysics for Shiro) and are just about to move onto more complex things like family history, when Pidge interrupts them.

“Okay, that’s it,” she says, holding up her hands. “You two are not even concentrating on the game and frankly, you’re ruining the experience with the constant heart eyes. So I’m calling it an early end for tonight. Keith, go grab a jacket and take Shiro down to Patsy’s or something since you two clearly don’t really want to be around anyone but each other right now.”

Keith can feel his whole face burn up, knowing he must be as red as his Dad’s firetruck by now. He opens his mouth to argue, but no words come out. He tries to argue that this is really all on Matt for bringing Shiro in the first place, that all Keith really wanted was a quiet night between the three of them, and that the Holts only have themselves to blame. He tries to summon up words of denial to say he’s not nearly as taken with Shiro as Pidge seems to think he is, that Shiro isn’t handsome or smell good or that he’s certainly not Keith’s kindred soul.

And yet, nothing comes out. All Keith can do is uselessly move his lips, gaping as no sound goes past them. He knows he must look so stupid right now. Especially when Pidge just keeps giving him her most unimpressed face, to the point that Keith can no longer stand to look at it and see his own humiliation reflected there. Instead, he gathers all his courage and turns to look and see what Shiro’s reaction was instead.

Shiro’s blushing red as well, staring down at his feet. Keith’s a bit delighted to see his blush covers even his scar when it spreads across his whole face like that. Keith’s even gladder when Shiro meets his eyes, before starting to rub the back of his head with embarrassment.

“I mean…I wouldn’t mind,” Shiro says, a little bit of nervous laughter mixing in with his words towards the end. Keith finds it incredibly charming and cute.

It doesn’t help the way Keith’s heart jumps into his throat again either. But at least this time it’s not just from nerves, but also from excitement. “…Okay. Let me go grab that jacket.”

…

Once Keith and Shiro are out in the apartment building’s hallway, all it takes is one look at each other before they both break out in uncontrollable laughter.  

“Oh my god,” Shiro gasps out through the hand that he has covered his mouth with. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea she would practically throw us out.”

“That’s okay, it’s not just on you.” Keith smiles, wiping the corners of his teared-up eyes. “At least now, we can talk in peace.”

Shiro smiles back, but rubs the back of his neck again, his eyes wandering up at the hallway ceiling in embarrassment. “I swear I’m not usually like this. Not so obvious, or quick or…I don’t know what’s going on here.”

Keith swallows, takes a deep breath. “I think I might know,” he says. “I just hope it won’t freak you out.”

Shiro brings his eyes down to meet Keith’s, before raising an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Shiro, how much do you know about different alien races?” Keith asks, straightforward as ever.

Shiro blinks a few times, clearly confused. “A little more than an average person, I guess? I mean, Matt’s an alien anthropology major. I’ve learned a few things on the sidelines from watching him. Read a few of the books he has out of curiosity.” He pauses. “Why?”

Keith nods. That’s just about what he figured. He quickly squashes any thoughts about whether or not Shiro has read any of his mother’s work before they can properly crop up. That’s an issue for another day.

Keith takes a calming breath, straightens his shoulders and tightens his core, before opening his mouth. “Well…I know I may not really look like it on the outside, but I am actually part Galra,” he says. He continues before Shiro has a chance to comment. “And as Galra, I may someday meet my…”

“Your kindred soul, your soulmate,” Shiro breathes, his eyes growing wide. “Holy shit. Holy  _ shit _ . This is what that feels like?”

Now it’s Keith’s turn to blink. “You know about kindred souls?”

“Yeah,” Shiro says, sounding a little breathless. “I have a Galra pen pal and like I said, I’ve read some of Matt’s books. I wanted to be a space pilot growing up but after my accident… No, that’s not the point right now,” he says, shaking his head as if to clear it, before turning to look at Keith with blazing eyes. “We’re kindred souls?”

“I think we are,” Keith says, nodding softly. “Everyone I know has a different story for how they met their match, of course, but they all say the same thing… ‘When I first saw them, I just knew.’ And I think I now know what they meant.” He smiles a little wistfully up at Shiro, a little sadly. “But I want you to know, this isn’t some sort of an obligation. It’s not like what media tends to make it out to be, if you’ve seen stuff. If we’re not in contact for a while, the connection will just fade out on its own. Or we can just be friends, if that’s all you want from me. I’m not going to expect anything from you.”

“Keith,” Shiro says, and he’s smiling gently at him now. He reaches out to take Keith’s hand with his flesh one, and Keith meets him halfway with his own. His skin tingles when their hands touch. Shiro’s flesh hand is warm and feels sturdy. It’s almost like an anchor in the middle of the storm of all these confusing new emotions and the dizziness they cause. “I know we’ve only just met, but I really like you already. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like this for anyone this fast. And I’d like to at least know where this can go.”

“Shiro…”

“Why don’t we do as Pidge told us to do, and go to Patsy’s for now? We could eat, and talk.” Shiro squeezes his hand.

Keith smiles, squeezing back. “I’d really like that.”

…

Keith and Shiro quickly make their way down the street towards Patsy’s, the 24/7 diner not too far away from Keith and Pidge’s apartment that Keith has become increasingly fond of over the course of living in this city. The food there is delicious but reasonably priced, and the staff is hard-working and friendly. They also serve the best pies and coffee Keith’s ever tasted.

Shiro holds his hand the entire way as they walk in the cooling night air, keeping it warm. It makes Keith smile a little, though he hides it into the collar of his jacket. They chat a little on the way about the food at Patsy’s and a bit more about how they were just thrown out.

“Trust me, you’ll learn not to be surprised by Pidge after a while,” Keith says, grinning a little despite himself. “She’s just the kind of person who won’t let anything keep her from doing what needs to be done or speaking her mind.”

“Sounds like you know her pretty well.” Shiro smiles gently.

“Well, I’m sure Matt’s mentioned it, but we all are really like siblings. Our moms are really good friends. Ironically, they were also roommates when my Mom first got here.” He chuckles a little. “So I’ve known Matt and Pidge both since birth.”

“It seems unbelievable we’ve never met until now,” Shiro says. “Our worlds have been so close to each other.”

“I’m not around during most of the holidays,” Keith says. “So that might be it. Still,” he squeezes Shiro’s hand, giving him a smile, “better late than never, right?”

Shiro squeezes back, and smiles as well. “Right.”

It doesn’t take them long to reach Patsy’s, and they settle into a booth together, still making light conversation. Keith doesn’t think it’s ever been quite this easy for him to talk to anyone he’s just met, to feel so natural with someone even with the dizzying attraction he feels towards Shiro. They both order burgers and various different types of pie for the two of them to share between themselves. Keith even orders a cup of coffee, even though he normally wouldn’t touch it past 5 PM because any caffeine after that tends to keep him up all night. It’s in his blood, being a little nocturnal, so he at least must do what he can to sleep during the hours set by human society. He tells about this to Shiro, and it makes him laugh, so that’s a bonus.

Conversation keeps flowing naturally even as they get their orders and begin to eat.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little surprised to see you eat all that,” Keith says, pointing his fork towards the third piece of pie Shiro’s working on. It seems that Keith has finally found someone outside his own family that can eat as much as he does. “Your physique doesn’t exactly imply ‘I enjoy unhealthy diner food.’”

“Oh, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” Shiro laughs and gobbles up more pie without an ounce of shame. “After all, this sort of body requires a lot of calories.”

“That I can believe,” Keith says, eyeing Shiro up and down appreciatively. And if it makes Shiro’s cheeks turn pink again, well, that’s just a cherry on top.  

The two of them end up talking long into the night, occasionally ordering more food and coffee so they can keep their booth. The topics to go over and talk about just never seem to run out, and their conversation flows naturally from one point to the next. Keith tells Shiro a few stories about his and Pidge’s adventures growing up, about the cosmic teleporting wolf that his family has adopted and named Kosmo, about how he’s always been interested in art and how it’s helped him express the way he sees the world when he can’t quite put it in words.

In return, Keith learns about how three years ago, Shiro was involved in a bad accident which led to him losing his right arm, the fact that he was raised by his grandparents from the age of six, that he loves mac and cheese but can’t stand anchovies. He drinks it all in, the image of Shiro growing clearer in his vision with every word he says.

“Hey, you mentioned before that you don’t spend the holidays at home, right?” Shiro says, cutting himself another piece of pie with his fork. “Where do you spend them then?”

Keith takes in a breath, steeling himself. He knew he would have to talk about his family eventually, and there’s really no use hiding it or avoiding the topic. If Shiro is going to become a part of his life, his family will have to factor into that. Since Keith now lives far from all of his family, he can at least ease him into all of it. But he must still start somewhere, and it might as well be here.

“Well…here on Earth, it’s just my Mom, my Dad, my puppy and my twin sister,” Keith says, sipping his cup of coffee. “But I’ve also got two uncles and grandfathers, and a few cousins too, and we’re all in pretty tight-knit contact, even with the distance.”

Shiro nods. “I’ve heard that it’s normal for Galra to have bigger family units, and that you don’t really base them on blood either.”

“Yeah,” Keith says. “If we all lived close enough to each other, I would’ve likely grown to look at all the adults in my extended family as parental figures, and my cousins would’ve been like my siblings. But since my miniature family – that’s what we’ve started calling my blood family,” he explains at seeing Shiro’s raised eyebrow, “since we’re so far away from everyone else, we’ve had to learn how to make due. So we keep in touch with StarSkype and messages while we’re apart and then usually go stay with my grandfathers during the holidays, the whole family unit.” He pauses for a moment, frowning down at his plate. “My sister actually lives with them now, since she wanted to go to college in Daibazaal instead of Earth.”

“That must be hard. All of it,” Shiro says, reaching over to take Keith’s hand across the table. He squeezes it, and Keith manages a smile for his efforts. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but…why did your parents decide to stay here if your mother had a whole family waiting for her in the stars?”

“It’s fine,” Keith says, squeezing Shiro’s hand in return. “Mom only really meant to stay here for a year for her thesis work, but then she met my Dad and things took a turn. They are kindred souls and they pretty much just…fell completely in love with each other over the course of a very short period of time.”

He smiles a little to himself, shaking his head. He’s heard his parents’ love story multiple times growing up. As a kit, he secretly would dream of one day finding a love like theirs. It sends another round of butterflies into his belly to think, to even consider, that he may now have found it.

“Anyway, they’re both kind of impulsive people, so they got married really fast – only three weeks after they met – and after that Mom of course couldn’t just leave Earth without him after the planned year was up,” Keith continues. “But Dad’s parents were in a bad way at the time and he couldn’t leave them to look after themselves alone either. So they stayed. By the time my grandparents were gone, though, Mom and Dad had built a whole life on Earth. My sister and me had been born, my Mom had found her place here with her research and writing, and my Dad had his job as a firefighter. So we stayed put, even if it meant being distant from the rest of the family.”

“Wow,” Shiro breathes, his eyes sparkling with something Keith can’t quite put his finger to, but he thinks it might be hope, or possibly longing. “That’s amazing.” Shiro smiles. “It sounds like you’re close to your parents.”

“I am,” Keith nods. He’s not ashamed to admit it. His parents are the most amazing people and couple he knows. “I’m close to my uncles, grandfathers and cousins too. Just in a different way than you’d normally be in a sub-pack.”

“What about your sister?” Shiro asks.

“Oh boy,” Keith breathes out, burying his face in his hand. “Acxa and me…it’s kind of hard to explain what we are. We’re twins so we’re always gonna be a little stuck with each other. We spent our childhood together sharing toys and fighting for our parents’ attention. We’ll always have that. But we’re just really different people. We have different interests and different friends, and…” He sighs. “And now she’s living and going to school in a whole different galaxy, having entirely different experiences from me, and we’ve never been more far apart from each other.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro says, squeezing his hand again, his eyebrows furrowed in a sympathetic frown. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“It’s okay,” Keith says. “It’s just another thing I’ve had to adjust to with my family. And I have. And I’ve still got Pidge and Matt, so that helps.”

“Still,” Shiro says. “I wasn’t thinking. Or, I was, but not in the right way.” He sighs, shaking his head. He suddenly smells upset. “Honestly, all I could think about was how much I would’ve appreciated having a twin around when I lost my parents. Or any siblings for that matter.”

Keith leans over to grab a hold of Shiro’s other hand, moving to lace their fingers together on both hands, squeezing tightly.

“Wanna talk about it?”

So Shiro does. He tells Keith about how alone he felt for the first few months after his parents passed away and how invaluable the support of his grandfather was at that time.

“He must’ve been struggling with his own grief too, much more than I knew at the time,” Shiro says sadly. “But he never let it show when I was around. He let me cry and smash things if I needed to, and if I wanted to just be quiet, he’d take me fishing at the lake near his house. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for him.”

“He sounds amazing,” Keith says.

“He was,” Shiro says, but doesn’t elaborate, so Keith doesn’t push. They’ve got time.

Shiro moves onto telling Keith about his first boyfriend, Adam, and how they broke up because they were going to attend schools practically on the opposite sides of the country. He tells Keith how after his accident he was really lost and didn’t really want to date anyone for a while, but learned to appreciate the people that stuck around through that a lot more, like Matt. Keith in turn tells Shiro he’s never really seriously actually dated anyone before.

“That’s hard to believe,” Shiro says gently, leaning his cheek on his hand, tilting his head as he looks at Keith with liquid shining eyes full of affection. “How were there no takers?”

Keith smiles, averting his eyes a little as he feels his cheeks growing warm. “It wasn’t that there weren’t takers. I just have high standards. I guess that’s gonna happen when you’re surrounded by couples who are all soulmates.” He chuckles a little. “It’s okay though. I’ve been fine with just having my friends and my family. I don’t really do anything half-assed, so I’m probably not suited for casual dating anyway.”

“I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, when your parents got married only three weeks after they met.” Shiro smiles.

“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to go quite that far,” Keith says, a grin forming at the corner of his mouth.

He takes a few moments to calm down, to grow serious again, before he continues. “But…you should probably know that even if I’m not looking for marriage right away, I am looking for  _ something _ . Casualness isn’t well-suited for me  _ or  _ for my family. They…we have our own expectations, our own rules, when it comes to having people in our lives. It’s even worse with me, since I’m the youngest out of everyone.” He sighs, shaking his head. “And now I’ve probably scared you off with all of  _ that _ .”

“Not at all.” Shiro rushes to say, squeezing Keith’s hand again. “I think it’s wonderful that you have such a great family, who cares about you so much.”

His eyes become downcast, darkening with sorrow as he stares down at his empty plate of pie. The sight of him makes Keith feel like a fist of ice is squeezing his heart inside of his chest, and he leans a bit further over the table so he can search for Shiro’s gaze, holding onto his hand tight.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” he says softly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know,” Shiro says quietly, his voice a little hoarse. But he raises his eyes a little to meet Keith’s, even as they are now liquid in a way that Keith’s much less eager to see. “It’s okay.”

They stay quiet for a while after that, just holding hands and sitting as they both gather their thoughts and themselves.

“I really am sorry, Shiro,” Keith finally says. “I just don’t want to scare you off. I love my family, but we’re complicated. There’s no getting around that. And if you’re gonna be with me…you’re gonna have to be with all of us. We’re a package deal.”

“Hey,” Shiro says, his eyes and voice gentle. “What family isn’t complicated? What life isn’t? You’ve heard my story; you know mine certainly is.” He smiles softly. “And I really like you Keith. Soulmate or not, I want to keep getting to know you. And that includes your family, like you said. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to scare me away.”

Keith feels like his insides are flooding with warmth and light at Shiro’s words, his skin tingling with life and affection. He doesn’t think he’s ever wanted to kiss someone this badly before, to hold him in his arms, to be close to him.

Before he can cross the booth to do just that, though, one more thought occurs to him, and he bites his lip. He takes in a deep breath, tightening his core. This is one more thing he needs to tell Shiro tonight. After that, they can move forward little by little and get to know each other properly. Shiro will know all his dealbreakers. Then it’ll just be up for how well they generally fit together.

Keith licks his lips for courage, takes one more breath, and opens his mouth. “I’m trans. Just so you know.”

All Shiro does is blink once, his expression remaining completely unchanged otherwise. “Thank you for telling me,” he says, giving Keith a small smile. “But like I said, I really like you Keith. All of you.”

Keith allows himself to smile back, wide and uncontrollable. And it’s also at that moment that he can’t hold himself back anymore. So, he quickly slides himself off his side of the booth to join Shiro on his side, to wrap his arms around Shiro’s wide shoulders and finally press their mouths together for the first time.

Shiro’s mouth tastes like raspberry pie. And it’s perfect.

…

After that, Keith and Shiro continue talking, kissing and eating on the same side of the booth. Time seems meaningless when they’re together, just flowing past them unnoticed until the first rays of the sun start peeking in from Patsy’s front windows. It’s only then that Keith really realizes how fuzzy his head feels, how misty his eyes have grown and how heavy his limbs feel. Not to even mention how much his jaw hurts from all the smiling and talking.

“Shiro, this has been great. One of the best nights of my life,” he says promptly. “But I think we might need to call it a night for now.”

“Or, rather, morning,” Shiro jokes, casting a glance at the dawning day.

Keith smiles. “In any case, I need to get some sleep.”

“I should too,” Shiro admits. “How do you wanna pay for all we’ve had?”

“We can split,” Keith says. “Paying for your date is archaic anyway.”

“Agreed.”

They settle the bill quickly, exchange phone numbers, and a few more kisses outside Patsy’s front door. Despite his weariness over not having slept at all, Keith’s never felt more content than he does being held in Shiro’s arms like this, the touch of his lips against Keith’s intimate but tender. Keith can’t help but sigh a little into Shiro’s mouth, but it comes out more like a purr. Shiro doesn’t seem to mind, deepening the kiss slightly at the sound of it until it leaves Keith breathless, lightheaded and with stars breaking out behind his eyelids.

After a few moments of this kind of incredible bliss, Shiro pulls back from the kiss. His eyes are blown dark and his cheeks and lips are flushed red. His breaths come out short and fast, which Keith can see in the cool morning mist. All of it is an incredibly attractive look on him and Keith has to swallow hard just not to let another soft purr slip.

“I really should get going.” Shiro coughs, averting his eyes. “But…can I meet you for dinner tonight?”

Keith knows that for humans, this is moving fast. That if he was any other guy, he’d maybe play it safer, act more hard-to-get; take some time to consider his options, to clear his head. But he’s not any other guy, and neither is Shiro. Keith can already feel himself counting hours until tonight, even if he knows he’s going to be asleep for most of them.

Even with how many times he’s heard the story, he thinks he’s never quite understood why it took his Mom and Dad only three weeks to know they were right for each other better than he does at this very moment.

“Yeah,” he says, grinning up at Shiro. “Dinner sounds nice.”

...

Later that night, lying with sweat still cooling on his naked skin in Shiro’s bed, held in Shiro’s arms, heart still hammering in his chest as he traces patterns with his fingers on Shiro’s skin, Keith understands his parents even better.

“I feel like I should apologize,” Shiro says, laughing a little, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of Keith’s head. “I swear I don’t usually sleep with people on a second date. Especially if I’ve only known them for maybe 24 hours.”

“28,” Keith corrects him, shifting around to give Shiro a proper kiss on the lips, cradling the side of his face in his palm. “But you don’t need to apologize. I was more than willing. You were great.”

Shiro blushes a little, but looks pleased at Keith’s words nonetheless. “I hope doing this didn’t break any of your family’s rules or expectations?”

“No, of course not,” Keith laughs. “I wouldn’t have done it if it did. Physical intimacy like this is normal.  _ Sex _ is normal. A lot of people do it all the time, and that includes the Galra.” He gives Shiro another kiss. “I mean, some Galra want to wait until they meet their kindred souls, but even that’s not really an issue here.” He winks. “But aside from that, being intimate with someone is a good bonding mechanism, and a good way to release stress. The Galra even encourage it for the health benefits it gives us. The only way it could be wrong is if it hurts someone.”

“Good,” Shiro says, and before Keith can say anything else, he flips them over so Keith is beneath him, lying on his back on Shiro’s bed. “Because frankly, I rather enjoyed what we just did, and would like to have more of it.”

Keith smirks a little, wrapping his arms around Shiro’s neck, stroking his fingers through Shiro’s short hair. “Frankly, I would want to have more of it too.”

Shiro returns his smirk, lowers himself down, and starts kissing down Keith’s body.

…

Keith and Shiro become close to inseparable after that. They both lead busy lives, of course, with their studies and lives outside of one another, but they make sure to meet up whenever they can, wherever they can, even if it’s just for a quick lunch between classes. Sometimes they just meet up to work on their individual school projects together, sometimes they spend time together with Pidge and Matt joining them, sometimes they sleep over at each other’s places. Shiro becomes a regular addition to their game nights, and the rest of them become a lot better than the first attempt. With all of them knowing each other, it’s been easy for Shiro to slide into that part of Keith’s life.

Indeed, Shiro slots himself into his life so effortlessly, so easily and simply. It feels almost like Keith has always known him. He constantly feels like he’s walking on air, floating with a happiness so grand he feels almost like he could burst with it. He wants to share that happiness with the rest of the whole world, to shout it from the rooftops, to tell every person he meets on the street that he’s falling in love with the most wonderful man in the world, and what’s more, the feeling seems to be mutual.

Except…he doesn’t tell everyone. Keith still StarSkypes with his parents every day, and the rest of the sub-pack at least once a week between the various messages sent multiple times a week, but he’s never once so much as mentioned Shiro to any of them. He’s not even completely sure why. Keith just feels like he needs to keep Shiro to himself for a while, outside of the package deal, despite what he said to him on their first date. And he’s so happy right now, with how everything is. He doesn’t want to ruin it with things like expectations or family matters

Keith knows he’s only putting off the inevitable. He’s known from the start that if Shiro is ever going to become a real part of his life, he’s going to have to adjust to Keith’s family too. His parents are already suspicious over how consistently happy he’s been lately, and it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out. Even Acxa seems to suspect something is going on, which tells Keith he has very little time left of keeping any secrets. His family is just too close and Keith’s never been very good at lying or hiding anything. He’s always told his family everything and he can’t deny it feels a little weird he hasn’t shared his new relationship with them.

Keith knows his family would likely even welcome Shiro into their sub-pack as his kindred soul and possible lifemate with big, open arms, so long as he responded to them with proper respect and honor. And there are very few people with more respect or honor than Shiro. Not to mention he makes Keith happy and he knows that deep down that’s all his family really wants from him. It’d be a seamless enough transition for Keith to include Shiro into his family, as much as he has with the Holts.

But every time he thinks about telling his family about Shiro, he can’t bring himself to do it. The words get stuck in his throat like dust balls, choking him with nerves.

Because Keith knows deep down that it’s not his family’s acceptance that is the problem. It’s the fact that he’s afraid that if Shiro had to face up to what Keith’s family is really like in person, maybe he wouldn’t want to stick around. Keith doesn’t like thinking about it, but the truth is that despite what he said, Shiro may still have very little idea of what he’s getting himself into by being with Keith. Keith has shown him pictures of his family of course, and it’s not like he’s hiding or ashamed of who he is or where he comes from. He knows Shiro even likes the way Keith nuzzles against him, the way he purrs when he’s content and the way he always scents Shiro the first thing whenever they see each other. But seeing pictures of his family and caring for Keith are a whole different matter than Shiro having to face up to his whole family and what it really means to belong to that family. Keith’s family, with their expectations and rules and traditions. Their big, purple forms, loud voices, and endless questions.

For now, Keith wants things to remain as they are for a little while longer. He doesn’t want anything to change. He wants to keep Shiro and his family separate. To give both himself and Shiro some time to get used to everything about each other, and keep on gently preparing Shiro for what lies in store for him when the time finally comes for him to meet Keith’s family.

For now though, things are fine as they are.

They’re fine.

They’re fine.

…

Inevitably, time passes by and the holiday season rolls around. Keith and Shiro barely have time to see each other during the exams that come before that, other than when they get together to study, but after the exams are over, they spend three amazing lazy days together in bed. The first day is mostly spend sleeping in close contact, but the rest of it they catch up on each other before the inevitable separation. Shiro’s been invited to spend the holidays with the Holts again and Keith is going up to Daibazaal to be with his family as usual.

Keith’s been feeling the cold press of guilt for weeks because he just can’t bring himself to invite Shiro over for the holidays. He hates the idea that Shiro has no one in his family to go home for the holidays to, but at the same time, he doesn’t think it would be a very good idea to spring his boyfriend to his family for the first time when they’re all going to be staying in the same house for weeks. No matter what, it’s best to start with something smaller when it comes to that.

He just thanks the Gods for the Holts. Since Shiro’s spent the holidays with them before, Keith will at least know he’ll be fine and welcomed in their home, and that he won’t be alone. Shiro has expressed that multiple times when they’ve talked about the holidays and agreed together that it’s still a bit too early for Shiro to be spending them with Keith’s family.

Still, it nearly breaks Keith’s heart when Shiro says, “I’ll miss you,” as Keith is getting dressed on the morning of the fourth day post-finals, preparing to leave to go pack his things before he departs the city for the break.

“I’ll miss you too,” Keith says, stepping over and leaning down to give Shiro, who is still in bed, a kiss. “I’ll draw a lot of pictures of Daibazaal for you.” Keith may not be a terrible photographer, but he’s always preferred the way he can bring anything he sees to life by drawing it over snapping pictures. It’s more personal anyway. “And we can StarSkype.”

“Yeah,” Shiro says, kissing him again. “I’ll still miss you though.”

Keith chuckles. “Same.”

The first thing Keith does when he gets back to his and Pidge’s apartment is to take a thorough shower, scrubbing himself carefully from head to toe with the most flowery, strong-smelling body wash he could find in the nearby grocery store. Afterwards, he gathers up any and all clothes he might bring with him for the holidays that have had any contact with Shiro at all in the past months, and puts them to wash. If he’s going to pull off keeping this a secret still, he needs to wash Shiro’s scent off of everything.

It’s a shame though, because Keith would love to have something that carried Shiro’s smell with him for comfort when they’re apart.

It’s also strange to realize how much of his life and things Shiro has touched, because Keith ends up having to wash much more stuff than he ever imagined. Thankfully, he has Pidge to help him.

“I really don’t think this is going to help you much, to be honest,” she says as she helps him fold his newly-clean laundry. “Your Mom will sniff you right out. And if she doesn’t, then someone else will.”

“I’ve got to at least try,” Keith says, chewing the inside of his mouth as he puts another folded shirt into his bag.

“Or you could just tell them.”

Keith doesn’t answer, just folds and packs more clothes.

“Keith.” Pidge sighs. “Shiro’s a good guy. You know he is. And I know for a fact that he’s over the moon for you. He’s not gonna be scared off by the fact you’re related to tall, purple aliens. He kinda already knows that, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“He doesn’t really know though,” Keith says. “It’s just…I’ve never been in this situation before. Not just with having a partner that is serious enough to consider introducing to my family, but in general. You and me, we’ve known each other since we were babies. You always knew my Mom was Galra. So did most of the people I went to school with before college because they saw my Mom pick me up from kindergarten and elementary school. This…” he sighs, rubbing his eyes. “This is the first time I’ve had someone in my life that only knows about my background in theory rather than in practice.”

“Well,” Pidge shrugs her shoulders, “Maybe give Shiro one of your Mom’s books to read? That might help make the image a bit more real.”

Keith picks up a pillow and tosses it at her. She tosses it back.

They don’t get much more packing done for a while. But at least Keith feels a little better by the end of what became a rather vicious pillow fight covering the entirety of their apartment.

…

When Keith arrives at the teleportation station of his hometown the next day, his parents are waiting for him there along with Kosmo. Keith feels his mouth immediately spreading into a huge grin at the sight of his puppy waving his fluffy tail back and forth at his parents’ feet, standing up on his four legs and starting to bark cheerfully at the sight of him. It’s naturally followed by Kosmo blinking out of sight in a flash of light and reappearing on top of Keith, almost crushing Keith with his weight to the point he almost topples over as Kosmo begins to cover his face in wet, affectionate kisses.

“Easy, boy, easy,” Keith laughs, even as he squeezes Kosmo’s fluffy form closer, breathing in his familiar scent. He’s missed his puppy so much. With the rest of his family, he can at least ease the ache of being so far away from them with talking and messages. With Kosmo, he has no such luxury.

“Kosmo, off,” Keith’s Mom’s voice speaks, sterner than Keith has ever quite managed to be with Kosmo. Kosmo take her more seriously for it too, blinking out of sight once more and appearing at Krolia’s feet again like he never left.

“Good boy,” Krolia says, leaning down to rub Kosmo’s ears a little.

“Hey, son,” Keith’s Dad greets him with his usual mellow, soft smile on his face as he steps closer to him. “Welcome home.”

“Hey, Dad,” Keith breathes, setting down his bag at his feet and letting his father pull him into a tight hug. Keith scents him as he does, breathing in his familiar smell of crackling fire and desert sand, taking comfort in it and his strong, safe, warm hold. “It’s good to see you.”

They hold each other for a while before Kevin lets go and Krolia steps in to replace him. Keith barely has time to blink or brace himself before his mother has gathered him up in her arms and is scenting his shoulder. Barely even has time to do the same in return before she pulls him back, staring at his face with serious eyes.

“You’ve been having sex,” she says, like it’s no big deal to say something like that your son at a public place.

“Mom!” Keith cries, already feeling the blush coming on. He can’t believe she smelled it, even after he was so thorough in his cleaning process.

She sniffles at the air around him. “Good sex too. Very often. You’ve never smelled satisfied like this. And it seems like it’s all been with the same person, too.”

“ _ Mom! _ ” Keith says, his face starting to feel like it’s on fire. “You can’t say stuff like that here!”

“Why not?” she says. “It’s a natural act, and you’re more than old enough to be intimate with someone.”

“Dad,” Keith begs, turning towards his father with pleading eyes. “Please, say something.”

“Hm,” Kevin says in his normal, mellow tone, his lips turning up just slightly. “You are using protection, right, Keith? You’re being safe about it? We got you those condoms for a reason when you left for college. I know it’s your life and your choices to make, but I don’t think it would be a very idea for you to get pregnant right now.”

“Daaaad,” Keith cries, burying his burning face in his hands.

Krolia sighs. “I’ll never understand why humans are so reserved about physical intimacy. Although,” her face takes on a bit of a steely look now, and Keith has to swallow around his suddenly dry throat. “I can’t help but wonder why you haven’t told anyone of this mystery man of yours.”

Keith swallows again.

…

After a very long, difficult and embarrassing conversation with his parents, Keith prays to any gods he knows to spare him any more trouble from the rest of the family. He knows the odds of it actually happening are small, but he has to convince himself of there possibly being at least some mercy in the world to even make himself get on the planetary aircraft to Daibazaal.

Acxa is at the airport waiting for them alongside Grandpa and Pawpaw, and her eyes light up at the second she spots them. Their Dad is once again the first one to get a hug from her. Krolia joins in this time, making it a group-hug, while Keith gets scooped up by Pawpaw like he’s a kit. As usual. Thought to be fair, to someone Pawpaw’s size and age, Keith might as well be.

“Pawpaw!” he laughs, pressing his head against Pawpaw’s affectionately, letting a few purrs slip. “Put me down!”

“No can do, little one,” Pawpaw purrs in return. “I’ve missed you too much.”

“I’ve missed you too, Pawpaw,” Keith admits. And for a moment, everything is alright with the world. Keith’s with his family again. His heart feels more whole than it’s been in a long time.

And then, Pawpaw sniffs at him properly.

“Keith?” he says, now sounding serious, almost grave. “You’ve started being intimate with someone?”

And with that, Keith feels like all the blood in his face drains at once and his heart drops into his stomach. He only gets a second to mull over that, though.

“ _ What?! _ ” Acxa screams, pulling out from their parents’ embrace and stomping over to where Keith is still being held by Pawpaw. “You’re sleeping with someone?!”

Pawpaw puts Keith on his feet. He does it gently, but Keith can feel everyone’s eyes on him now, silently asking him questions; letting him know they want to know what Acxa’s asking as much as she does, even if they’re not saying it out loud.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Keith says, now feeling the blood return to his face in a rush as he crosses his arms. “But yes.”

“Why haven’t we heard anything about this?” Grandpa asks, stepping forward, his brows furrowed.

“We only found out yesterday as well, father,” Krolia says, stepping closer to him. “Apparently Keith has been hiding this relationship for a while now.”

“Why would you do that?” Pawpaw asks, sounding hurt. It makes Keith’s stomach grow cold with guilt. He rubs his arm in embarrassment and shame, unable to do anything else. He has no real answer to give that wouldn’t hurt anyone present even more. All he can do is avert his gaze and keep quiet.

“That’s not the point!” Acxa cries, her eyes blazing and her cheeks flushed a darker blue with anger. Keith’s never seen her this worked up. She’s usually the calm and level-headed one of the two of them. “Keith, what the hell? I thought you wanted to wait until you met your kindred soul? And now you give it up for some guy none of us have even met?!”

“First of all,” Keith growls, anger beginning to grow aflame inside of him as well. “I was never waiting. That was just you. And second of all, Shiro  _ is  _ my kindred soul, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

She blinks a few times in rapid manner, her angry expression momentarily dropping into confusion.

It doesn’t take long for the anger to catch up.

“ _ What?! _ ” she screams. “You met your kindred soul and you didn’t even tell anyone about it?!”

“Can we not do this here?” Keith groans, rubbing at his forehead. He’s tired from the journey and he’s hungry and now he feels a headache coming in from all the stress and the screaming. “People are staring.”

He doesn’t even understand why Acxa is so upset. He figured she’d be the one to probably care the least about what he does or who he sees. That’s the way it’s always been between them. They’ve always let each other lead rather separate lives from one another without asking too many questions and usually only finding out about what is going on with the other from their parents or during family talk time.

“Keith is right,” Grandpa says, and Keith could almost cry from always getting to count on him to be the voice of reason. “We should get going. Everyone awaits. But,” he gives Keith the exact same stare as his Mom gave him not even 24 hours earlier. The exact same tone of voice too, now that Keith thinks about it. “we want to hear all about your kindred soul once everyone is present.  _ All _ about it.”

Keith swallows.

…

“So long story short,” Keith says to Shiro later over StarSkype from Daibazaal in his room, still shuddering at the thought of the embarrassing questions and queries that he had to endure from all of his family not long before, and all the apologies he had to deliver from not telling them about Shiro sooner. “You’re going to have to come over for dinner at my parents’ place when the holidays are over.”

Shiro blinks, but that’s all the reaction Keith gets aside from the small smile that grows on his lips. “Okay. We’ll set up a date then.”


	2. Chapter 2

Now that it’s become clear that the cat is truly out of the bag and his family will no longer accept anything short of meeting Shiro, Keith at first tries out another strategy to stall the situation and do some damage control. It’s just so he can have a bit more time and a better chance for everything to work out. Therefore, he puts in his best efforts to try and put the date of the inevitable meeting parents off by at least a month or two, just so he can really prepare Shiro in a more heavy-handed manner than he’s been doing so far for what he’s about to walk into.

Unfortunately, because he’s stuck with his family and their insistence and questions for all throughout the holidays, it doesn’t even remotely work out. Even his grandfathers’ mansion isn’t big enough for Keith to hide in from his whole family. His only real escape is to head out to draw scenes of Daibazaal for Shiro, but it’s not like Keith can do that infinitely or never come inside. Besides, he’s here to spend time with his family and avoiding them is hurtful and disrespectful to all parties involved.

And therefore, sooner rather than later, he has to accept the fact that some conversations and events just can’t be avoided.

“Mom, we’ve only been going out for a few months. Isn’t it a bit fast for him to meet you guys already?” Keith tries to argue for what feels like the 100 th time in three days.

“By the time I had been together with your father for a few months, we were already mated and he had definitely met the family,” Krolia says, hands on her hips, standing over Keith where he’s sitting on the couch like an ominous tower. Keith thinks he should probably be grateful that this time it’s just her rather than all of his family at once, but honestly, talking to his Mom one-on-one like this, with her seeming so disappointed, is even worse than everyone ganging up on him.

“I  _ know _ ,” Keith huffs, because this is the one time he doesn’t want to be reminded of his parents’ great love story. “But you can’t expect everyone to be like Dad and just be immediately ready to jump into things head-first. You of all people should know that. You’re the expert in humans.”

“Be that as it may, I can’t help but wonder why you haven’t so much as mentioned your man to any of us until you absolutely had to,” she says. It’s with those words that some of her sternness seems to melt away, as though she’s giving up on the lecture mode. She even ceases with her towering and instead takes a seat by Keith’s side on the couch.

“You’ve always been honest with us Keith, about everything,” his Mom continues. “We’ve never had any secrets like this. And I ­– we – can’t help but wonder why you chose to keep something so important as this of all things a secret.”

Suddenly, seeing the saddened expression on her face, Keith can’t bear to look his concerned mother in the eye anymore. Instead, he moves his eyes down to his skinny knees. It would be so much easier to deal with all of this if Krolia was yelling at him or if her scent was blaring with anger like Acxa’s was when she first heard about Keith’s secret and began to demand answers. But Krolia just being worried and sad like this…

“I’m sorry,” Keith says softly, still unable to meet his mother’s eyes, clutching at the fabric of his pants. “I don’t even really know why I didn’t tell you. It’s not Shiro’s fault, I swear. He’s been nothing but wonderful and he asks me about you guys all the time. It’s all on me. I just…” he sighs, closing his eyes and drooping his head. “I guess I just didn’t want anything to change. Not yet.”

He feels Krolia wrap her arm around his shoulders, pulling him close for a half-hug. Keith doesn’t hesitate to wrap his own arms around her waist and hold her close in return, drawing comfort from her familiar warmth and smell.

“We only want to meet him because we care about you, Keith,” Krolia says softly. “We want to make sure he’s a good fit. For both you alone and to our family. Because you know we’re always going to be here.”

“We’re a package deal.” Keith chuckles tearfully into her shoulder, remembering what he said to Shiro that night they first met.

“Exactly,” Krolia says, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. “I’m sure if your man is as wonderful as you say he is, we’ll all love him.”

“Speak for yourself, Mom,” Keith hears Acxa’s voice and raises his eyes just enough to see her pass by, likely on her way to the kitchen through the living room. She doesn’t stop to elaborate though, just continuing on her way without a word or even a glance back. But there is a definitive angry manner to the way she’s stomping and ignoring them. Evidently she’s still in a mood from their earlier toss of words.

“Don’t worry about your sister,” Krolia says, as if reading his mind. “She’ll come around. I’m sure it’ll all get easier once we actually meet your Shiro.”

“Alright, alright,” Keith laughs, sitting up straighter so he can look Krolia in the eyes. “I can take a hint, Mom. I’ll let Shiro know we need to set up a date at the earliest possible convenience.”

“Good,” she says, smiling at him. “You can bring Katie along too, if you want.”

“Thanks, Mom, but to be honest, just having you guys there with my boyfriend will be more than enough awkwardness for me. We don’t need to add Pidge to that mix.”

…

In the end, Keith and Shiro manage to settle on a weekend two weeks after the holidays for the date of the meeting that works for Keith’s parents as well. Krolia and Kevin even agree to pay for the teleportation fees, which is something at least. And Keith supposes the meeting probably won’t be so bad as he’s dreading it could be. It’ll just be his parents, after all. It’ll be a good way to ease Shiro into everything, and maybe his parents can talk Shiro up to the rest of the family if it goes well. From this meeting on forwards, it’ll all surely be smoother sailing.

Even settling the date thankfully seems to put Keith’s family more at ease and the rest of the holidays pass by a lot smoother than they started. Keith still gets plenty of questions about Shiro from everyone, especially his cousins Regris and Ilun, who enjoy teasing him for the fact that despite being the youngest of all the children in the sub-pack, Keith was the first to find his kindred soul. But even the questions aren’t as invasive as they were at the beginning and are more about things that any family would ask someone about a loved one’s partner: things like what Shiro’s studying (Ulaz), what his plans are for the future (Grandpa Kolivan) and if he makes Keith happy (Thace). In a strange way, though not entirely surprisingly, Keith actually finds himself enjoying to finally getting to tell his family all about the man he’s falling in love with, to finally get to share Shiro with the other people most important to him in the world. His Mom is right in that it’s been strange keeping such a huge part of his life a secret from them all.

Acxa still refuses to barely even speak to him through the entire holiday though. She spends most of the time in her room and even during joined family time, she mostly ignores Keith or glares at him from across the room or table. Keith would never admit to it, but it bums him out more than he thought it would. He hadn’t really realized how much he’s missed his sister until he saw her again. Before they both left home for school, no matter their differences, she was always such a constant in his life, just as much as his parents or Kosmo. And even with their lives being mostly outside of each other, the two of them would always practice their fencing together, join family activities with their parents and occasionally tell each other secrets that they didn’t tell anyone else.

It’s strange to have all of that be exchanged for mere cold anger now.

Keith doesn’t push it though. He’s done his part and apologized to everyone for hiding his new relationship from them. Acxa has yet to apologize for anything she’s said or done since Keith got to Daibazaal, including the way she’s been giving him the silent treatment. The ball is in her court now and Keith’s not going to go crawling to her and beg for forgiveness. Miss her or not.

The two of them still haven’t made up by the time Keith returns to Earth with their parents. Acxa doesn’t contact him even by the time Keith goes back to college either. From that point on, it becomes a bit easier to ignore the fact she’s still giving him the cold shoulder, because Keith becomes so busy not just with schoolwork but with properly training Shiro for meeting his parents.

“They’re probably going to ask a bunch of pretty uncomfortable questions,” Keith says as he keeps on pacing the same nervous path he’s been wearing down in his and Pidge’s living room for the past few minutes already. “I can’t even really list all the topics they might ask you about, it would take too much time. You should’ve heard all they asked just from me, it was terrible.”

He takes in a breath. “All I can say is that just…try not to be phased by it. They probably won’t expect you to actually answer everything. They’ll just want to grill you a little.”

“Okay.” Shiro nods, writing what Keith said down on the notepad he brought along with him. Keith has to give him credit for being diligent about this at least. Maybe he’ll even mention the notepad to his Mom. That might help her realize how much Shiro wants her and his Dad to like him.

“It’s highly likely my Mom will ask you to fight her at some point during the evening. Strength is a big deal for Galra. There’s also this thing in our culture about you having to prove you can look out for me – if you were Galra I’d be expected to fight an older family member of yours too – and…I’m sorry, but there’s just no getting around that. It’ll be a huge insult to her, her strength and her position as my mother if you refuse to do it. And you can’t go easy on her either, because that would have just about the same effect.”

“I’ll pack some clothes I can spar in then,” Shiro says, putting down another note.

“It’ll just be my Mom and my Dad for now, so that’ll make things a little easier at least. And you probably know this, but just be prepared for my Mom to be very tall and purple and…”

“Keith,” Shiro interrupts him gently, reaching up to catch his hand and hold it, ceasing Keith’s pacing. Shiro’s hold on him is just as strong and warm and calming as ever. It helps settle Keith at least a little, helps him find his center enough to remain still for a while. “It’s gonna be okay. I’ll do all I can to make a good impression on your family.”

Keith sighs, stepping around the coffee table so he can flop down to sit beside Shiro on the couch and lean against his warmth for comfort. “It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s  _ them _ . I know they’ll love you, but you might not love them very much once the night is over.”  _ Or me _ , he doesn’t say, but can’t help but think.

“Hey,” Shiro murmurs, putting his free arm around Keith to pull him in for a proper embrace. It helps soothe Keith at least somewhat and he breathes out some of the tension from his core. “There’s nothing,  _ nothing  _ they could say or do to drive me away. How could they, when they made you? You were born from them and raised by them and look how wonderful you turned out.” He places a kiss to the top of Keith’s head.

Keith sighs, breathing in Shiro’s comforting scent, drawing strength from it. “How are you so perfect?”

“Because you’re worth it.”

Keith can’t help the snort that escapes him, burying it in Shiro’s chest. “Really? A L’oreal joke?”

“Eh. It was worth it. At least you laughed.” Shiro chuckles.

…

About a week later, Keith and Shiro arrive at the same teleportation station that Keith arrived at for the start of the winter break to meet his parents. From there they take a hovertaxi the rest of the way to the house Keith grew up in. It’s Galra tradition to not meet or see your mate’s family for the first time anywhere else but at the family’s territory after all. Keith kind of wishes they could ignore this particular tradition though because he has to pay the hovertaxi driver extra to take them to the middle of the desert where his parents’ home is located. Not to mention it would’ve been a lot easier to just introduce Shiro to his parents over StarSkype where Keith could easily have claimed bad connection if things began to take a turn and they needed a fast escape.

As it is, he can barely seem to be able to sit still in the backseat of the taxi, constantly fidgeting and shifting from side to side from uncontainable nervous energy running through his entire body. Keith’s stomach keeps turning, the back of his neck is breaking out in cold sweats and his breathing is coming out fast and hitched.

“Baby,” Shiro murmurs from beside him, squeezing the hand he hasn’t let go of throughout the entire ride. “It’s gonna be fine. I’m sure I’ll love your family.”

Keith can’t even bring himself to answer. They’ve gone over all of this far too many times already, with Keith always being a nervous wreck and Shiro always appearing almost annoyingly calm. Shiro may suffer from nightmares relating to his accident, he may be scarred all over and sometimes needs a little bit of extra support to get through the day, but in situations like these he’s like a rock for Keith. But perhaps that’s what helps them work so well; being there for each other to be a calming presence when the other most needs it without question.

Keith just wishes he could be as visibly cool about all this as Shiro is just once. Because his senses are stronger than a regular human’s, Keith can tell by Shiro’s smell that he’s more anxious than he’s letting on, but it’s still at a normal level; the sort that Keith would expect from a man about to meet his boyfriend’s parents for the first time. If he wasn’t Galra, Keith wouldn’t be able to tell that at all visibly. He wishes he had Shiro’s confidence.

But there’s no getting around all of this now. Keith just has to face up to what is about to happen. Either this meeting goes well or it doesn’t. He’ll just have to face the consequences no matter what. And at least by the end of it all he’ll know for sure and once and for all if what he and Shiro have is truly something real. Perhaps then he can find the courage to say those three little words to Shiro that have been on the tip of Keith’s tongue ever since he got back from the holidays and realized just how much he’d missed Shiro while they were apart. With how wonderful Shiro’s been over the past few weeks, it’s been getting harder and harder to keep the words inside. But until Keith truly knows how Shiro will fit into the rest of his life, he can’t risk his heart even more than he already has and say them out loud.

Finally, the hovertaxi parks in front of the large two-story house that is more familiar to Keith than any other building in the world. His heart is in his throat as he pays the grumpy driver his fee and he and Shiro grab their things. And then it’s just a matter of steeling himself and taking a deep calming breath before stepping up to the front porch and knocking on the front door.

Krolia is the one to open up, which comes as no surprise to Keith, since Kevin has always been the chef in the family. Besides, she’s the true head of their miniature family as its oldest member, and therefore should be the one to first welcome strangers to her territory and, possibly, family.

“Sweetheart,” she coos, and despite himself, Keith melts a little at the open affection clear on her face and in her voice, and lets himself be drawn into a hug. He can feel his mother scenting him and does the same, trying to draw some comfort and ease from the familiarity and safety of her presence. It works, if only a little. “Welcome home.”

“I was only gone a while, Mom,” Keith says as they pull back. But he smiles softly at her regardless.

“But you’re still my little boy,” Krolia says, stroking his cheek briefly with her clawed thumb. “I’ll always miss you when you’re not here.”

Before Keith can grow more embarrassed by anything else she has to say in front of his boyfriend, they’re thankfully interrupted by a familiar flash of bright light as something huge, black, blue and furry appears between mother and son, standing on two legs in order to reach Keith’s face for licking.

“Kosmo!” Keith laughs, even as his dog keeps lapping at him and panting over his face. “Down, boy, down!”

Thankfully, Kosmo is a good boy that Keith trained well, even if he could never quite get him to learn how to fetch, and he settles down obediently at Keith’s feet, wagging his bushy tail.

“Good wolf,” Keith says, rubbing Kosmo’s ears for a moment.

It’s then though that he remembers he’s not alone with his Mom and puppy, and turns promptly to gesture to his boyfriend. “Uh…Mom, this is Shiro. Shiro, this is my mother, Krolia.”

“It’s an honor to finally meet you, ma’am,” Shiro says, bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect. He doesn’t hold out a hand for Krolia to shake to add to his words to show that he acknowledges Krolia’s higher status in this situation as the elder out of the two of them and as Shiro being a stranger in her territory. To let him know he’s welcomed and that his respect is acknowledged, Krolia must be the one to offer her hand for Shiro to shake first.

Keith lets out a sigh of relief. He didn’t really think Shiro would forget anything he’s been teaching him, but it’s still a different thing to know it in his bones and to actually see it in action.

Krolia’s expression remains unchanged as she looks Shiro up and down, but she smells slightly impressed, so Keith lets himself enjoy that small victory. And when she holds out her hand for Shiro to shake, Keith feels himself relax a little more. It helps that Kosmo is leaning against his legs, his heavy warm weight a familiar comfort since he was little.

“It’s good to finally meet you as well, Shiro,” Krolia says, and grabs a hold of Shiro’s elbow in the traditional Galra handshake. She even grants him a bit of a smile. “We’re very glad you could come. Keith has unfortunately not been nearly as forthcoming with information about you as we would’ve all liked.”

“I’m happy to be here,” Shiro says, giving her a small smile in return. He almost sounds like he means it, too. But Keith can smell that there is nervous sweat breaking out at the back of his neck at the sight of Krolia’s intense eyes.

“Uh…” Keith starts, searching for an ice breaker. He quickly finds one at his feet. “And this is Kosmo, our space wolf.”

“Hey, Kosmo,” Shiro turns to smile down at the canine, lowering his flesh hand down to let Kosmo sniff at him. Keith can’t hide a smile when Kosmo rather quickly licks Shiro’s fingers and lets out a happy bark. Kosmo may be the family pet, but he’s always been Keith’s most of all since Keith is the one who found and rescued him. He’s happy Kosmo approves of Shiro, but not surprised. He raised his puppy well, after all.

“You can pet him if you want,” Keith says to Shiro, still smiling.

Shiro crouches down a little to stroke down Kosmo’s thick fur. The wolf quickly closes his eyes in contentment and leans against Shiro affectionately.

“He likes you,” Keith says warmly.

Shiro turns to smile at him. “I’m glad. He’s really as amazing as you said.”

There’s a momentary, peaceful, almost content silence.

It’s broken rather quickly by the sound of another voice. “Hey, did I hear right or is Keith here already?”

The sound of the voice is enough to turn all their attention back to the doorframe, where Keith finds another familiar face. A face he really hadn’t expected to see today.

“Acxa?” he breathes. “What are you doing here?”

His sister turns to smirk at him, like she hadn’t just ghosted him for weeks. “Like I’d miss the first meeting of your beau, dummy,” she says, striding properly out with confidence in her step as she approaches Shiro, who quickly gets back onto his feet. Unlike their mother, Acxa’s not the one for subtlety at all and is very open about the way she looks at him and judges him.

“Hmm. Not bad, I guess,” she says, glancing at Keith over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed and her tone somewhat unimpressed.

Keith immediately moves to be a bit closer to Shiro, but Acxa isn’t deterred, as always. She merely holds out her own hand for Shiro to shake. Somehow she manages to look much more reluctant about it then Krolia did, though. It might have something to do with the way her expression is so cold. “I’m Acxa. Keith’s sister.”

“Good to meet you. Keith has told me so much about you,” Shiro says, taking a hold of her elbow, smiling at her a little nervously. “I’m Shiro.”

“Wish I could say the same thing about you,” Acxa says, giving Keith another glance. The look in her eyes is still steely and angry. Apparently she’s still not quite as over their altercation as she’s pretending to be in front of Shiro. “Quite the uproar it was, when we had to find out through Mom that Keith had found his kindred soul.”

“Acxa…” Keith starts.

“So,” she cuts in, narrowing her eyes and closing her face in on Shiro’s. “What are your intentions towards my little brother?”

“You were born literally ten minutes before me!” Keith cries, because enough is enough.

Shiro, to his credit, only blinks. “I hope to continue seeing him for as long as he would allow me to.” He pauses. “And hopefully one day we can make what we have a more permanent arrangement.”

“Hm,” Acxa says, raising one perfect eyebrow, and suddenly, Keith begins sweating all the more. It hits him like a lightning right that moment that there is one thing, one custom he forgot to warn Shiro about, to tell him about. “So, no actual plans for a mating yet?” Before Shiro can answer, Acxa continues, “Do you have commitment issues or something? Or is my brother just an easy lay to you?”

“Acxa!” Keith cries, now properly stepping between his boyfriend and sister. “We’ve only been going out for five months! Very few people think about marriage that soon!” He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. He shouldn’t make a scene, make everything worse. Acxa’s just trying to provoke him and Shiro both. She’s still mad at him and trying to get him in trouble for it. He can’t rise up to it and make things worse.

Keith closes his eyes for a while, counts to ten, takes comfort from Kosmo’s warmth against his legs again, and makes sure his voice comes out as even as he can make it as he speaks. “There’s still plenty of time before three years are up.”

“Three years?” Shiro asks, raising his eyebrows.

Acxa ignores him. “Mom and Dad knew in three weeks. You’ve had plenty more time than that.”

“Mom and Dad also spent all that time together, not doing almost anything but getting to know each other. Me and Shiro have school and other commitments, remember?” Keith huffs. He’s getting really tired of everyone using his parents against him. Does he really deserve this for always dreaming of a love like theirs?

“Well,” Krolia cuts in. “’Mom’ would still also very much like to know what your and Shiro’s plans are for the future. At this stage, you still should’ve at least talked about it. Or about the fact that he has a duty to you now, at least.”

Keith lowers his eyes down to the ground, trying to contain his frustration. “We’re here, aren’t we? Isn’t that a show of something at least?”

“It’s a start,” Krolia says. “But it’s not quite enough, I’m afraid.”

Keith bites his lip, all kinds of thoughts rushing to his head, running around like wild animals. He’s just pondering on how he’s going to solve all of this and explain everything to Shiro in a way that won’t make him freak out, when another head pokes out of their front door. And the sight of it becomes yet another thing to throw Keith off today, because it definitely doesn’t belong to the person he thought was the only one still in the house.

“Sorry, but we’re all kind of dying to meet Keith’s young man, so won’t you call him inside already, please?” says the very purple, very hairy, very yellow-eyed head in the doorframe.

“Thace?” Keith lets out. “Wha…wh…huh?”

“Oh, did I forget to tell you?” Krolia asks, and Keith would almost believe the surprise in her tone if not for the amusement in her scent. “It’s not just us here today. I invited the rest of the family as well. I thought that we should all meet Shiro.”

“Mom!” Keith screeches, already breaking out in more nervous sweats as he turns to her. “I thought this was going to be just a quiet dinner with you and Dad! Even Acxa being here is too much!”

“Hey!”

Krolia shrugs. “If Shiro’s going to become a part of this family, he might as well become a part of it now,” she says, turning to look at her son sternly. “You know. As a sign of good faith.”

Keith just barely manages to hold back a groan.

Thankfully, Shiro seems to still be keeping his cool front, even if he smells nervous. Keith knows in a house now full of Galra, he’s not fooling anyone, but he could still kiss Shiro for doing his best to keep a calm head even through his nerves.

“It’s all right,” Shiro whispers over to Keith, reaching to grab a hold of his hand. “I’ll meet them.”

“They’ll be a lot,” Keith warns him from under his breath.

“I don’t care. They came all the way here to meet me for your sake. We should respect that.”

Keith has to admit he’s got a point. So he keeps holding onto Shiro’s hand for both comfort and to show he and Shiro are here as a unified front as he and Shiro begin to walk towards the front door of the house, everyone else following them.

“Shiro, this is my mother’s brother Thace,” Keith says as they reach his uncle, gesturing with his hand. “Thace, this is Shiro.”

“Good to meet you,” Thace says, giving Shiro a friendly smile as he offers his hand for him. Keith can’t help but smile too, feeling a bit more at ease in Thace’s calming, easygoing presence. Maybe it  _ won’t _ be so bad having everyone here. Thace is the social butterfly of the family after all. Maybe he’ll be able to move the conversation forward if things ever get too awkward.

Before Keith can properly finish that thought, his breath is knocked out of him as huge hands suddenly grab him by the armpits from behind and lift him up in the air.

“There’s my littlest one!” Pawpaw coos, cradling Keith in his arms the way he always does when they meet. But unlike every other time, Keith has his  _ boyfriend  _ here now, and would very much like not to be treated like a child in front of him, in front of  _ everyone _ , in a situation like this.

“Pawpaw, put me down!” he cries, trying to struggle out of Antok’s hold. It doesn’t give. And it’s kind of hard to resist the way Pawpaw purrs at him the way he used to do when Keith was little and couldn’t sleep at his grandfathers’ house.

“You never used to run from me like this,” Pawpaw says, pressing Keith close to his huge body. He even plays the dirty trick of brining his tail above Keith’s head, swinging it back and forth. Keith hates to admit that it works, the way he can’t help but be caught staring at it for a while. “You used to beg me to lift you up.”

“I’m not a kit anymore,” Keith hisses. “Let me down.”

“Darling,” Grandpa’s even, serious voice says, coming to Keith’s view from behind his huge husband.

He doesn’t even have to say anything more. Pawpaw merely lets Keith down gently with a huffed, “Fine.”

“Hello, Keith,” Grandpa Kolivan speaks down to him then, reaching over to smooth his big hand over Keith’s head and hair. It’s still something you would do to a kit, but at least it’s better than being picked up and cradled like a baby.

“Hey, Grandpa,” Keith says, letting a soft purr and a smile slip. Even though it hasn’t been that long since he last saw everyone, it’s still a rare day that they all get to be together like this if it’s not a holiday. And even if he wishes the circumstances were a little different, they’re Keith’s family, and it feels good to see them all.

“How are you, kitling?” says Ulaz’s voice, and Keith feels a touch on his shoulder, promptly turning around to meet his eyes.

“I’m good,” he says, smiling at him, letting Ulaz pull him to a short hug. “Is Regris here? Or Ilun? I don’t see them.”

“They had plans they couldn’t get out of, I’m afraid,” Ulaz says. “But they send their love and want to make sure you know that they, too, wish to meet Shiro at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Keith mentally sends up a mental prayer of thanks to Marmora that his rowdy cousins aren’t here on top of everyone else. They may be like his siblings, but his sister is bad enough. He doesn’t want to put up with their pressure and teasing as well. There’s a reason he told Pidge she really didn’t need to come here today, after all.

“Heeeeyyy, where’s my hug?” Thace says, striding over and squeezing Keith without any further prompting. “It’s good to see you, kit.”

“You too, Thace,” Keith mumbles from where he’s pressed against Thace’s chest.

“Starshine, he can’t breathe,” Ulaz says in the characteristic calm manner in the face of his mate’s enthusiasm.

“Oh, sorry,” Thace says, and lets Keith go. He gives him a sly smile before leaning down to whisper, “Your man is quite the catch. He’s so polite! And so handsome too!”

Keith manages a smile at that. “I know.”

Keith turns to look at Shiro, only to see him talking to Krolia and Acxa. He doesn’t seem too tense at least, and his Mom is smiling a little, so that seems like a good enough sign. But it’s still probably not the greatest idea to leave the three of them alone with the way Acxa’s been acting, so Keith makes his way over to them in a few quick steps, Kosmo following after him, loyal and protective as ever.

“Hey,” he says, settling by Shiro’s side and grabbing a hold of his hand again. Shiro’s palm feels a bit clammy, but Keith doesn’t mind. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Shiro was just telling us about his studies,” Krolia says, and actually sounds pleased. “Sounds like he’s got a good future ahead of him.”

“I know. He works really hard,” Keith says proudly, tucking himself more firmly into Shiro’s side. Shiro smiles at him with a happy little hum, before letting go of his hand to wrap an affectionate, warm arm around his shoulders.

“You two have awfully different majors though,” Acxa says, her eyes still narrowed and unimpressed. “Astrophysics and art? Do they have anything in common besides the first letter?”

“Well, we do have to draw star charts,” Shiro says with a weak laugh. And Keith loves him and his sense of humor, but sometimes he wishes Shiro knew the proper meaning of a time and a place to make a joke. “Keith is an amazing artist though. It’s like he can see inside of people and show what he sees to the world in the way he draws. When he first drew me, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Keith only just has the time to feel the warmth pooling into his guts from Shiro’s words before Acxa sneers, “Oh, so he’s  _ drawn  _ you?”

Before anyone can answer her though, the rest of the family steps over as well, Grandpa in the front as is appropriate for his status in the family, offering Shiro his hand.

“I’m Kolivan. I am Keith’s grandfather,” he says, his tone even and unaffected as always.

“I’m Shiro. It’s an honor, sir,” Shiro says, grabbing his elbow with a small bow of his head.

“Antok. Keith calls me Pawpaw,” Pawpaw introduces himself, also offering his hand. Shiro shakes with him as well.

“And I’m Kevin,” comes the voice of Keith’s Dad from the direction of the kitchen. Indeed, as they all turn around, there he is, still clad in an apron and with a friendly, welcoming smile on his face. “Welcome, Shiro. I’m Keith’s Dad.”

“Thank you for having me, sir,” Shiro nods.

Kevin nods back at him. “Sorry I wasn’t around to greet you when you first arrived, but I had to get dinner finished.”

“It’s fine,” Shiro says politely with another nod.

“Welcome home, Keith,” Kevin says to his son with an affectionate smile.

“Hi, Dad,” Keith says, giving him a small wave.

“Beloved, is dinner ready?” Krolia asks.

“I set it out to cool for a while. Why?”

“Well,” Krolia says. “That gives us some time then.” She turns to Shiro, cracking her knuckles. It’s enough of a clue for Keith to immediately know what she’s going to say. He gulps, his heart leaping up to his throat. “Shiro, care for a little spar in the backyard before dinner?”

Keith can feel the way Shiro tenses a little beside him, and can see his eyes widening and cheeks paling just a little. But to his credit, all he says is, “Let me just change into something more appropriate for that, if you would, ma’am.”

…

Keith can’t watch the match between his Mom and Shiro take place, as is tradition. When he was little, Ulaz used to tell him bedtime stories about how in the old days of Daibazaal, the one the match was fought over had to be the acting judge for it, and if they chose their mate as the winner, they would be forced to leave their old life and family completely behind to start a new one. Keith much prefers the newer tradition where he hopefully will get to keep both his family and Shiro, even if it is nerve-wracking to think about Mom and boyfriend throwing down in the backyard over him.

Keith knows Shiro can take care of himself, might be even able to take Krolia, but he still doesn’t especially love the idea of the two of them fighting, especially because of him. It feels unfair that Shiro has to go through all these trials just for his family’s approval when Keith has nothing to offer in return. And Shiro is so amazing and wonderful. Kindred souls or not, he could have anyone he wanted. Someone without all this baggage that comes with Keith, all these rules and all these relatives. He shouldn’t have to put up with all of this

Keith finishes placing the last knife down on the table by a plate, slowly, from where he’s been helping his Dad set the big table for the big family dinner. He can just see his form reflected in the knife’s surface. His pale skin, his dark hair, his small nose. His violet eyes. The only part of him that really even hint at his Mom’s heritage in the way he looks. He, Acxa and Krolia all look alike in their features, but amongst his Galra family, Keith has always looked different, so much smaller and paler than they are.

How could Shiro have ever understood what he was getting himself into, when Keith can so effortlessly look human?

He looks up, turning towards his Dad, who is checking on the pot on the stove.

“How did you deal with all this?” Keith blurts out before he can even think about it.  

His Dad turns to meet his eyes, setting down the lid of the pot. “With what?” Kevin asks, his tone and gaze gentle and steady, as always.

Keith may be more of a mama’s boy, but it’s likely his similarities with his Mom that also make him so incredibly fond of his Dad. He’s always been a steady presence in their family, the rock keeping them all on the right path. A stable presence in their lives, ready to soothe and guide his emotional family through their storms when they get too much. Although Keith knows very well Kevin is not as sensible and practical as the image he maintains. It’s not the decision of someone without a single whimsical bone in their body to marry a person they’ve only known for three weeks, and Keith also knows his Dad also enjoys the occasional adrenaline rush and thrill. He’s a firefighter for more than one reason, after all.

It’s what makes his parents work so well, Keith supposes. They are similar enough to get along well, but different enough to help each other carry on when things are tough.

“All of this.” Keith gestures around himself with raised arms. “With our family. I mean, didn’t you struggle at all when you first met them? How did you handle it?” Keith says, even as his voice raises to the point his questions almost start to become demands. “It’s such a different world, different manners and expectations. Wasn’t it strange for you at all?”

“Keith,” Kevin says, his eyes softening as he steps over to his son, placing both hands on his shoulders. They’re big and warm and calming, as always, even if Keith still kind of resents the fact that even his human Dad is taller than he is. “I won’t pretend I wasn’t intimidated at first when I first met your grandfathers and uncles. But it wasn’t like you think. I was honored and happy to get to meet them. I was just afraid I was going to mess up somehow and accidentally disrespect your mother or her family and then they or she would hate me.”

His lips spread into a wide, if sheepish, smile. “I did mess up. Your mother didn’t prepare me quite as well as you have Shiro, and we didn’t have as much accurate information about the Galra ways as we do now for me to properly learn on my own. But you know what? My mistakes didn’t make your mother’s family hate me, or her herself. I apologized and I learned more as time went by, and in the meantime started to really become a proper part of the sub-pack, of the family.”

“But didn’t it ever make you feel weird?” Keith asks. “Or made you wish you didn’t have to do all of it, learn all of it, at all?”

“Keith,” Kevin says, and now his tone comes out as more serious, as does his expression. “From the first time I saw your mother, I knew she was the only one for me. That alone would’ve been enough for me to put in any effort it might take to get her family’s approval.” He pauses. “I also lost my parents relatively young, as you know, and I don’t have any siblings of my own. I would’ve been all alone in the world if it wasn’t for your mother when my parents passed. Her large family was more a relief than anything. I wasn’t alone anymore. For that, and for her, I was more than happy to put in any extra effort that might be needed.”

He squeezes Keith’s shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. “If your Shiro’s worth anything, he’ll feel the same way about all this. About you. And if not, we’ll still be there to catch you, no matter what.”

Keith’s eyes burn at that and he sniffles a little as he leans in to let his Dad hug him.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime, kiddo,” Kevin says, patting Keith’s back gently.

They stay like that for a while, Keith drawing warmth and comfort from his Dad’s safe, strong hold and familiar scent. Eventually, though, they’re interrupted by the sound of the backdoor opening n closing many times as multiple heavy footsteps make their way back inside. Kevin and Keith part then to properly assess the situation, turning to look as everyone else returns into the house.

Krolia is the first to pop into the view, a little dusty from the sand outside, but thankfully not all that mangled up. She’s smiling widely, too, so Keith takes that a sign of hope that something must’ve gone fairly right during the fight.

“I approve,” she says simply, still grinning almost strangely wide. She’s usually much more reserved with how much she lets emotion show on her face.

“Go wash up, mama,” Kevin says to her warmly. “No dirt in my kitchen.”

They exchange a quick kiss before Krolia goes to do as told.  Keith can just about hear her telling everyone the same from beyond his vision, so he settles to wait on them at his seat around the table.

It doesn’t take long before everyone arrives in the kitchen as one huge group, taking their seats around the table and beginning to pass around cornbread and pso rolls, Nerma juice, water, beer and Keith’s favorite strawberry juice.

Shiro is the last to arrive at the table, taking his seat by Keith’s side. He doesn’t look any worse for wear, though his hair appears a little wet, likely from washing his face in their bathroom.

“How did it go?” Keith whispers over to him as he takes a pso roll from the basket and puts it on his plate.

Shiro smiles slyly at him. “I won.”

…

The fight outside seems to have broken some of the ice from earlier because during dinner, conversation flows quite a bit more smoothly and much of the earlier nervous tenseness is lacking from the air in the room. Or perhaps it’s just due to the fact that everyone in Keith’s family is always happier when they’re eating his Dad’s cooking, especially when there are drinks involved.

Still, Shiro seems to have charmed everyone quite well with his show of strength against Krolia. Ulaz talks to him politely about his studies a bit more, while Keith discusses his current art projects with Antok and discreetly passes pieces of food under the table for Kosmo to snack on. For a moment, everything feels almost perfect. It’s like something out of Keith’s best daydreams, where Shiro fits in with his family just as well as he has with the rest of Keith’s life, falling into place like a puzzle piece.

But of course, it can’t last.

“So, Acxa? I’m a little curious,” Shiro starts after there’s been a momentary lull in the conversation at the table. “The rest of your immediate family all have names starting with a K. Why an A name for you?”

“It was my mother’s name,” Krolia explains. “I wasn’t really thinking about the initials when I thought of it. Although the Galran language has a different alphabet than English anyway, so…”

“Not to mention that Keith was almost named Yorak,” Acxa says, almost convincing with the innocent tone of voice she says it, before sipping her glass of Nerma juice.

“Acxa!” Keith cries, his cheeks flushing.

“Yorak is a very regal, proud Galra name,” Krolia says, sounding almost defensive. “I thought it would suit a strong boy like my son, especially with the way he screamed coming into the world.” She closes her eyes, crossing her arms. “Though I like Keith too, of course. At least with that name the human nurse didn’t mistake him for a girl like she did when I called him Yorak. I think she thought it was a girl’s name in the Galran language before I corrected her, told her I could clearly smell Keith is a boy.”

“Keith was also my Dad’s name,” Kevin explains. “My parents both had names starting with a K too. I guess that’s where that theme comes from.”

“Speaking of,” Acxa says, and Keith immediately tenses up at the look on her face. It’s that same look she had on before when she first met Shiro. “How do  _ you  _ feel about family, Shiro? Do you want one?”

Shiro swallows hard around his mouthful of food, thankfully not choking on it. But it looks like it comes pretty damn close.

“I mean, I…” he muses, licking his lips nervously, his own cheeks looking a little flushed. “Yes. I suppose I do. I…I lost my parents when I was quite young, so I’ve always wanted a family of my own again.” He turns to smile at everyone at the table, looking around and meeting everyone’s gaze one at a time. “That’s why I’m so glad to be here tonight, surrounded by so many wonderful people who care so much about the person that matters the most in the world to me.” He turns to give Keith a warm look, setting his hand on his shoulder.

Keith could almost cry, he’s so filled to bursting with love and joy for the man he loves, and he can’t resist leaning over to give Shiro a sweet, small kiss.

“And yet he hasn’t made any kind of an offer…” Acxa murmurs into her glass. Her tone of voice is almost low enough for anyone not to make out what she’s saying. Maybe Shiro even doesn’t, being human.

But Keith definitely hears her, and their shared childhood has left him an expert in reading what Acxa says even when she’s mumbling under her breath. He breaks off his kiss with Shiro, a flame of anger suddenly flaring inside of him as he turns to talk to his sister.

“What is your deal anyway?” he growls, swearing he can feel the heat of the flames burning at his core pouring out his mouth. “You’ve been ragging on Shiro all night! He’s been nothing but courteous to all of us so would you just let up?!”

Acxa blinks at him from over the rim of her glass. Slowly, she moves her hand and sets it down on the table. “Well,  _ sorry  _ for wanting to look out for you, Keith!” she cries. “Someone clearly has to because you don’t seem to care one bit about the disgrace this man is about to bring on you!”

“Disgrace?” Shiro says, turning to Keith in alarm. “Keith, what is she talking about? Have I mistreated you somehow? You said we weren’t doing anything wrong.”

“We weren’t. We haven’t,” Keith says, turning to Shiro and taking his hand in comfort. “I just forgot to mention something. Or maybe I was putting it off because I didn’t want to scare you away with expectations. Because I really don’t care about them. And I know my family won’t turn me away either. It’s fine, Shiro.”

“It’s not  _ fine _ !” Acxa screams, suddenly forcibly standing up, causing the dishes to clutter on the table. “Just you thinking it’s fine shows how not fine it is! If you think that is all it takes to scare this man away then he’s obviously not the right fit for you, Keith!”

“Acxa, that’s enough,” Krolia snaps, cutting her daughter off. “This is a conversation between Shiro and Keith. I understand that you want to protect your brother, but you’re being unfair. Shiro has respected all our ways in coming into our home. We ought to respect his in return. So long as he doesn’t hurt Keith, I am willing to always accept him here, no matter what the status of their relationship may be.” She turns to Shiro and she’s smiling gently. “I would be proud to call you my son-in-law, Shiro. And I hope you’ll one day call us your family alongside Keith’s.”

Shiro blinks rapidly a few times, his eyes wide and his mouth falling open in awe. Keith can smell the salt of his tears. “Th-thank you, ma’am. I would be honored.”

Krolia nods, still smiling softly. “If you wish, you may call me Krolia. Or Mom, if you prefer.”

Shiro’s cheeks turn red, and he lowers his eyes down to his lap, seeming unable to speak.

“We’ll work on that,” Keith says, affectionately squeezing Shiro’s hand with a happy grin on his lips.

…

The rest of the night passes over smoothly, aside from the fact that Acxa seems to once again have decided to give Keith the cold shoulder. She keeps to herself for most of the rest of the night, sticking to a single corner on her own. A few of the other members of the family occasionally go over and talk to her, but Keith can’t be bothered. He’s still a little angry at her and he doesn’t want to start another fight. Besides, the ball has been with Acxa this entire time. She can come to him when she’s ready to apologize.

The rest of the family spends the remaining evening talking, eating Kevin’s famous pies for dessert, and playing a few games together. Shiro engages in conversation with each of Keith’s family members at one time or another, and they all seem to be, if not taken with him then at least agreeable to him. Keith slowly finds himself relaxing as well, seeing Shiro do the same amongst his family. Despite his earlier reluctance, he’s now actually glad they did this. It’s definitely clarified some things for him; for both of them really.

Like the fact Shiro is definitely the man of Keith’s dreams. And that that might be something the two of them need to have a proper conversation about when they have a little more privacy.

Little by little, everyone begins to grow weary and begin to retire for bed for the night, Shiro amongst them. Keith, however, doesn’t quite feel ready to sleep yet, so he decides to step out to the porch for a bit of fresh air. Kosmo follows him out, as is his habit. Keith’s liked to sit outside and just think sometimes since he was little. The stargazing has always soothed him, made him feel a little less alone, knowing he has family scattered among the skies even when he can’t see them in person. He also hasn’t been able to see the stars much in the city, not like he can basically in the middle of nowhere like this, and it’s been one of the things he’s missed the most about home.

Keith’s been sitting with his feet on the front steps of the porch, wrapped in a blanket and with Kosmo resting his head on his lap as Keith pets his fur for a few minutes when he hears the front door open behind himself, sees the light from inside the house pool down onto the porch floor behind him.

Before Keith can even turn to see who it is, her voice gives it away. “Man, it’s freezing out here.” Acxa makes her way over to him in a few quick strides, sitting down next to Keith, arms wrapped around herself for warmth. “Make room, I want some of the blanket too.”

And, despite his earlier anger, Keith lets go of one corner of the blanket to let his sister slip inside and press against him inside of it for the heat. This is, after all, another thing he used to do on this porch a lot. It’s where he and Acxa have always talked, always shared all that there was to share between just the two of them; in the light of the moon and the stars as the desert cools and vanishes into the darkness of the night. Their two worlds melting and joining together in the mist, opening up before them, clear and cool blue.

“Did Mom send you out here? Or Dad?” Keith asks, a little snappish.

“They may have given me a little push,” Acxa admits. “But I came because I wanted to.” She sighs. “Keith, I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” Keith says, nodding. He keeps petting Kosmo. It’s always soothed him.

“’Okay?’ Is that all you have to say?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Keith snaps, turning to properly face his sister. “Acxa, you didn’t talk to me for  _ weeks _ . We’ve been apart for  _ months _ . Don’t we have something better to do when we finally see each other than fight and ignore each other?”

Acxa bites her lip, averting her eyes. But that only lasts a moment before she raises them to meet his gaze again. “You’re right,” she says. “And that’s why I wanted to talk again. I don’t want to fight anymore. I don’t want to separate from you again with bad blood between us.” She lets out a huff of air, white and visible in the cold air. “We’re far apart enough even without that.”

Keith blinks. “Wait. Did you…miss me?”

“Of course I did!” Acxa cries, frustrated anger in her voice and on her face. “You’re my brother! My only brother! And you’re…” she closes her eyes, looking pained. “You’re literally lightyears away from me all the time.”

Despite himself, Keith feels himself soften. Looks like it wasn’t just him then.

“I really am sorry for the way I acted,” Acxa continues. “Shiro seems like a good man. And he seems to really care about you, and you him.”

“Then why?” Keith asks. “Why have you been getting on my case about him so much? In the beginning, I could understand it a little better because you hadn’t met and because I hadn’t told anyone about him, but now…”

“I guess I wanted to test him,” Acxa says, letting out a sad little laugh. “I didn’t know what to think when you didn’t tell us about him. I just felt threatened. Even when we didn’t talk much when we still lived at home, I always still knew what was going on in your life, especially something as major as this. And finding out you had been keeping this huge secret for months just…” she lowers her head. “It just reminded me of how far apart we’ve become from each other. I saw that there was this whole new side of you that I didn’t know anything about, and it just made me feel like you’re further away than ever.”

“So you took that out on Shiro?”

“I guess.” Acxa shrugs, seemingly for the lack of anything else to do. “I mean, you deserve the best regardless, and I wanted to make sure he was that. That he was worth all the secrecy. But it was also easier to blame him than to blame you. Or myself.”

They’re quiet for a moment. Keith can’t figure out what to say. He’s never been the best at finding the right words, especially when it comes to comforting someone. He’s never hated that more than he does now.

“Please. Say something,” Acxa eventually whispers, just turning the knife in the wound.

“I’m still a little angry,” Keith says, because it’s the truth. And right now, honesty is all he has, the only guide to walk him through this situation. “But I’ve missed you too. And I don’t want there to be bad blood between us either.” He looks up at the sky, at the twinkling stars, gathering the courage to say what he has to say. “You’re my sister. I don’t want us to drift apart, even if we’re far away from each other physically.” He pauses, before turning to look at Acxa, putting on his most serious face. “But you need to apologize to Shiro too.”

“I will,” she says, nodding. She pauses for a moment, hesitating, before raising her fist to gently punch him in the shoulder. “But I’m not the only one who should talk to him. You should at least bring up the three years. Or just the future for you two in general. He’s been willing to respect all of our ways so far. He might surprise you.”

“Yeah,” Keith says. “Yeah, I know. I’ll talk to him later, when we’re alone.”

She smiles.

It’s a start.

…

Later that night, once Keith has retired to rest with Shiro in in his old bedroom, Keith brings it up.

“Shiro, I…I think there is something I need to tell you,” he says.

Shiro turns to him, nods slowly, and puts his book down. “So I’ve gathered. Go ahead.”

Keith takes a deep breath. “What Acxa was talking about earlier is…it’s the Galra way to decide where a romantic relationship is going within three years after it starts,” he explains. “Once the three years are up, it’s tradition to either go through with a mating or break the courting off. If we just kept dating after the timeline has passed as if nothing had changed, it would technically reflect pretty poorly on me. It would send a message to all Galra that you’re just toying with me; that I’m not good enough for you to properly mate, just to string along.”

Shiro blinks a few times, but other than that, his expression doesn’t change. “Why would it reflect badly on you specifically? Wouldn’t I be the indecisive one in that scenario?”

Now it’s Keith’s turn to blink. “ _ That’s  _ your only concern?”

“Hey, honestly, it’s valid to want to know where a relationship is going after three years. If you didn’t wonder at all at that point, I’d be a little worried,” Shiro says, smiling sheepishly. “So…?”

Keith snorts. “It would reflect badly on me because you’re the older one out of us and therefore hold more respect and power in our relationship. It would be the opposite if I was, like, your boss or something, but since we’re equals there, the age is the only determinator.” He takes in a breath. “It’s also why you’re the one who has to ask me. If I asked you, it’d seem like I was desperate for your affection and disrespectful towards your wishes. I do, however, hold the power of saying no to a proposal without consequences.”

“Okay,” Shiro says, contemplative, nodding. “Then, before three years have passed from the day we met, I’ll ask you. I promise.”

Keith blinks, his heart stopping for a second. “You will?”

“Of course,” Shiro says, turning a little and reaching up a hand to cradle Keith’s face, stroking his cheek with his thumb. “I already know I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, Keith. Our souls are entwined. I just want a little more time to focus on school and maybe save up some money before we start making wedding plans.”

And it’s then that Keith can’t possibly be expected to hold back any longer from all the love and warmth bubbling inside of him that has been threatening to burst out of him all day. He doesn’t hesitate any longer, and just grabs a hold of Shiro’s face and brings their mouths together in a heated, eager, wet kiss.

Shiro responds to him passionately, licking into his mouth and wrapping his arms around Keith to bring him closer, stroking his hair down. Keith in turn lets his hands fall from Shiro’s face and wrap around his neck instead.

As they part, Keith looks Shiro deep in the eyes, taking in every shade there is to be found in them as he presses their foreheads together.

“Thank you for being you,” he sighs softly. “You were amazing today.”

“You’re worth it, baby,” Shiro says.

“This wasn’t exactly how or where I planned to say this the first time, but…” Keith murmurs, still looking into Shiro’s eyes. “I love you, Shiro.”

“Oh, Keith,” Shiro sighs, moving his head a little to peck at Keith’s lips. “I love you too. Of course I do.”

Keith’s heart hammers in his chest, feeling almost like it’s being flooded with warmth again, and he moves to kiss Shiro in earnest once more.

It’s feels like the perfect ending for a day like this.

At least, until Shiro pulls his lips back and says, “By the way, you never told me your mother was Krolia Kogane,” he says, smiling in amusement and gentle affection, as if he doesn’t realize his words just caused Keith’s stomach drop down to his knees. “Does that mean you’re K in that book of hers? Do you think she’d sign my copy if I asked her?”

Keith groans.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr [here](http://nihonlove.tumblr.com/)!


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